Plan B Battles Embroil States----Proposals Mirror Red-Blue Divide

[rodeodance]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/26/AR2006022601380.html

Plan B Battles Embroil States
Proposals Mirror Red-Blue Divide

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 27, 2006; Page A01

Filling a void left by the Food and Drug Administration's inability to decide whether to make the "morning-after" pill available without a prescription, nearly every state is or soon will be wrestling with legislation that would expand or restrict access to the drug.

More than 60 bills have been filed in state legislatures already this year, and that follows an already busy 2005 session on emergency contraception. The resulting tug of war is creating an availability map for the pill that looks increasingly similar to the map of "red states" and "blue states" in the past two presidential elections -- with increased access in the blue states and greater restrictions in the red ones.


Many of the state bills intended to expand access give specially trained pharmacists in states including Maryland, New York, Kentucky and Illinois the right to dispense emergency contraception without a prescription. Other bills require pharmacies to stock and distribute the drug, and to ensure that the pill is made available to women who come into emergency rooms after a sexual assault...........

[rodeodance]

1. ---increased sales dramatically -- up more than 200 percent --------

.......But Plan B usage is not determined by legislative and regulatory decisions alone. The company has found that extensive publicity about the drug has increased sales dramatically -- up more than 200 percent since the FDA first turned down the application for over-the-counter status in early 2004.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. So what happens when

Plan B type drugs are available over the counter in one state and are illegal to use at all due to absolute abortion restrictions in another state?

[Demeter]

3. Interstate Commerce, Of Course!

Silly man!